Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act of 2020
Latest action · Dec 18, 2020 Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 557.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJan 17, 2019
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act of 2020
This bill ratifies and modifies the Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Agreement negotiated between the Navajo Nation, the United States, and Utah. The agreement gives the Navajo Nation the right to use water from sources located within Utah and adjacent to or encompassed within the boundaries of the Navajo Reservation, provided that depletions do not exceed a specified amount annually.
The Navajo water rights shall be held in trust by the United States for the use and benefit of the Navajo Nation and shall not be subject to forfeiture or abandonment.
The Navajo Nation shall have authority to allocate, distribute, and lease the water rights for any use on or off its reservation in accordance with the agreement.
The Department of the Interior shall establish and manage the Navajo Utah Settlement Trust Fund, with amounts available for withdrawal by the Navajo Nation for planning, designing, constructing, operating, maintaining, and replacing Navajo water development projects.
The bill also specifies waivers and releases that must be executed in order for the settlement to be binding and effective.
Cosponsors 5
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jan 25, 2019 to Jun 24, 2019.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-UT | Chris Stewart | Jan 25, 2019 | |
| R-UT | John R. Curtis | Jan 25, 2019 | |
| D-UT | Ben McAdams | Feb 26, 2019 | |
| D-NM | Ben Ray Luján | Jun 20, 2019 | |
| D-AZ | Tom O'Halleran | Jun 24, 2019 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Natural Resources Committee | Referred Jan 17, 2019Markup Feb 12, 2020Reported Dec 18, 2020 |
| Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee | Referred Feb 6, 2019Hearings Jun 26, 2019Discharged Feb 12, 2020 |
Actions 9
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Dec 18, 2020Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 116-673.
- Dec 18, 2020Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 557.
- Feb 12, 2020Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Discharged.
- Feb 12, 2020Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Feb 12, 2020Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Unanimous Consent.
- Jun 26, 2019Subcommittee Hearings Held.
- Feb 6, 2019Referred to the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife.
- Jan 17, 2019Introduced in House
- Jan 17, 2019Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Committee report
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 165, no. 10, January 17, 2019, page H719.
Printed hearings 2
Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.
| Number | Hearing | Committee | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020110 pages | Appropriations Committee | Apr 2, 2019 |
| Serial No. 116-15 | LEGISLATING TO SAFEGUARD THE FREE AND OPEN INTERNET238 pages | Energy and Commerce Committee | Mar 12, 2019 |
CRS reports 1
Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.
Cite it 1
Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.
| Product | Title | Kind | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| R44148 | Indian Water Rights Settlements | Report | Jun 17, 2025 |
Related bills 4
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 2 | Moving Forward Act | Related bill | Jul 20, 2020 |
| S 886 | Indian Water Rights Settlement Extension Act | Related bill | Jun 15, 2020 |
| S 1207 | Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act of 2019 | Related bill | Sep 9, 2019 |
| HR 6979 | Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act of 2018 | Reintroduction of | Oct 11, 2018 |
Titles 3
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To approve the settlement of the water rights claims of the Navajo Nation in Utah, and for other purposes.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act of 2019
- Short Title(s) as Reported to House
- Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act of 2020
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Native Americans.
Text 2
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Dec 18, 2020Reported in House
- Jan 17, 2019Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
